THE DO'S AND DON'T'S OF PROFITABLE MAIL ORDER ADS

Regardless of how you look at it, the most important aspect of

any successful mail order business is its advertising. In fact,

mail order success is wholly dependent, and even predicated upon

good advertising.

First of all, you've got to have a dynamic, spectacular ad that

attracts the eye and grabs the interest of the people you're

trying to sell to. Thus, unless your ad really "jumps out" at the

reader, your sales won't live up to expectations, and your ad

money will be wasted.

The eye-catching appeal of your ad must start with the headline.

Use the headline to very quickly create a picture in the minds of

the reader--a vision of all their problems being solved, and

attainment of the kind of happiness they seek. If your headline

fails to catch the attention of your prospect, you cannot hope to

capture him with the remaining of the ad, because it will go

unread! So in writing your advertisement for just a little while,

so you must quickly interest him in your offer, show him how he

can get what he wants, and then cause him to send immediately for

your "solution" to his problems. Your copy must exude enthusiasm,

excitement, and a positive attitude. Don't be afraid to use a

hard-sell approach! Say what you feel and believe about your

offer. And use common, "everyday," but correct English.

Even so, you can and must remember to be honest. Don't exaggerate

or make claims you can't back up. Never make promises you cannot

or don't expect, to keep. To do so could get you in trouble with

the Federal Trade and Fair Practices people.

Stress the benefits of your product or service. Explain to your

reader how owning a copy of your book (for instance), or

receiving your services will make his life richer, happier, and

more abundant. Don't get involved in detailing all the money

you've spent developing the product or researching the

information you're selling, or you're selling, or your

credentials for offering it. Stress the "sizzle" and the value of

ownership.

It is important to involve th reader as often as possible through

the use of the word "you." Write your copy just as if you were

speaking to and attempting to sell just ONE person. Don't let

your ad sound as a speaker at a podium addressing a huge stadium

filled with people, but as if there were just one individual

"listening."

And don't try to be overly clever, brilliant or humerus in your

advertising. Keep your copy simple, to the point, and on target

toward selling your prospect the product or service because of

its benefits. In other words, keep it simple, but clear; at all

costs, you don't want to confuse the reader. Just tell him

exactly what he'll get for his money; the benefits he'll receive;

how to go about ordering it. You don't have to get too friendly.

In fact, becoming "folksy," and don't use slang expressions.

In writing an ad, think of yourself as a door-to-door

salesperson. You have to get the attention of the prospect

quickly, interest him in the product you're selling, create a

desire to enjoy its benefits, and you can then close the sale.

Copywriting, whether for a display ad, classified ad, sales

letter or brochure, is a learned skill. It is one anyone can

master with a bit of study, practice, and perhaps some

professional guidance.

Your first move, then, is to study your competition, recognize

how they are selling their wares. Practice rewriting their ads

from a different point of view or from a different sales angle.

Keep a file of ads you've clipped from different publications in

a file of ad writing ideas. But don't copy anyone else's work;

just use the ad material of others to stimulate your own

creativeness.

Some of the "unknown facts" about advertising--and ad writing in

particular--tell us that you cannot ask for more than $3 in a

short classified type ad. Generally speaking, a $5 item will take

at least a one-inch display ad. If you're trying to sell a $10

item, you'll need at least a quarter page--perhaps even a half

page of copy--and $15 to $20 items require a full page. If you

are selling a really big ticket item (costing $50 or more) you'll

need a four-page sales letter, a brochure, separate order coupon,

and return reply envelope.

If you're making offers via direct mail, best to get into the

postal system with it on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday, to be sure it

does not arrive on Monday, the first and busiest day of the week.

And again, unless you're promoting a big ticket item, the quality

or color of your paper won't have any great effect on the

response you'll get, but the quality of your PRINTING definitely

will, so bear this in mind when you place your printing order.

One final point to remember: The summer months when people are

most apt to be away on vacation are usually not good months for

direct mail. But they ARE good for opportunity and advertisements

in publications often found in vacation areas, and in motels and

hotels.

Again, it cannot be stresses too much or often: Success in mail

order does, indeed, depend upon advertising, and as with anything

else, quality pays off in the long run. Read this report again;

study it; let it sink in. Then apply the principles outlined in

it. They have worked for others, and THEY CAN WORK FOR YOU!

HOW TO START A PROFITABLE HOME-BASED BUSINESS

In these days, it's becoming increasingly difficult to make ends

meet with just one source of income. Thus, more and more people

are investigating the possibilities of starting their own

extra-income business. Most of these part-time endeavors are

started and operated from the comfort and privacy of the home.

Most of these people are making the extra money they need. Some

have wisely and carefully built these extra income efforts into

full-time, very profitable businesses. Others are just keeping

busy, having fun, and enjoying life as never before. The

important thing is that they are doing something other than

waiting for the government to give them a handout; they are

improving their lot in life, and you can do it, too!

The fields of mail order selling, multi-level marketing, and

in-home party sales have never been more popular. If any of

these kinds of extra income producing ideas appeal to you, then

you owe it to yourself to check them out. But these aren't the

only fields of endeavor you can start and operate from home,

with little or no investment, and learn as you go.

If you type, you can start a home-based typing service; if you

have a truck or have access to a trailer, you can start a

clean-up/hauling service. Simply collecting old newspapers from

your neighbors can get you started in the paper recycling

business. More than a few enterprising housewifes have found

success and fortune by starting home and/or apartment cleaning

services. If you have a yard full of flowers, you can make good

extra money by supplying fresh cut flowers to restaurants and

offices in your area on a regular basis. You might turn a

ceramics hobby into a lucrative personalized coffee mug

business. What I'm saying is that in reality, there's literally

no end to the ways you can start and operate a profitable extra

income business from your home.

The first thing you must do, however, is some basic market

research. Find out for yourself, first-hand, just how many

people there are in your area who are interested in your

proposed product or service, and would be "willing to stand in

line and pay money for it". This is known as defining your

market and pinpointing your customers. If after checking

around, talking about your idea with a whole lot of people over

a period of one to three months, you get the idea that these

people would be paying customers, your next effort should be

directed toward the "detailing" of your business plan. The more

precise and detailed your plan - covering all the bases relating

to how you'll do everything that needs to be done - the easier

it's going to be for you to attain success. Such a plan should

show you start-up investment needs, your advertising plan, your

production costs and procedure, your sales program, and how your

time will be allocated. Too often, enthusiastic and ambitious

entrepreneur jump in on an extra income project and suddenly

find that the costs are beyond their abilities, and the time

requirements more than they can meet. It pays to lay it all out

on paper before you get involved, and the clearer you can "see"

everything before you start, the better your chances for success.

Now, assuming you've got your market targeted, you know who your

customers are going to be and how you're going to reach them

with your product or service. And you have all your costs as

well as time requirements itemized. The next step is to set

your plan in motion and start making money.

Here is the most important "secret" of all, relating to starting

and building a profitable home-based business, so read very

carefully. Regardless of what kind of business you start, you

must have the capital and the available time to sustain your

business through the first six months of operation.

Specifically, you must not count on receiving or spending any

money coming in from your business on yourself or for your bills

during those first six months. All the income from your

business during those first six months should be reinvested in

your business in order for it to grow and reach your planned

first year potential.

Once you've passed that first six months milestone, you can set

up a small monthly salary for yourself, and begin enjoying the

fruits of your labor. But the first six months of operation for

any business are critical, so do not plan to use any of the

money you business generates for yourself during that period.

If you've got your business plan properly organized, and have

implemented the plan, you should at the end of your first year

be able to begin thinking about hiring other people to alleviate

some of your workload. Remember this: Starting a successful

business is not a means towards either a job for yourself or a

way to keep busy. It should be regarded as the beginning of an

enterprise that will grow and prosper, with you as the top dog.

Eventually, you'll have other people doing all the work for you,

even running the entire operation, while you vacation in the

Bahamas or Hawaii and collect or receive regular income from

your initial efforts.

For more details on market research, business planning,

advertising, selling, order fulfillment, and other aspects of

home-based businesses, check with the distributor from whom you

HOW TO WRITE PROFITABLE CLASSIFIED ADS

Everybody wants to make more money... In fact, most people would

like to hit upon something that makes them fabulously rich! And

seemingly, one of the easiest roads to the fulfillment of these

dreams of wealth, is mail order or within the professional

circles of the business, direct mail selling...

The only thing is, hardly anyone gives much real thought to the

basic ingredient of selling by mail--the writing of profitable

classified ads. If your mail order business is to succeed, then

you must acquire the expertise of writing classified ads that

sell your product or services!

So what makes a classified ad good or bad? First of all, it must

appeal to the reader, and as such, it must say exactly what you

want it to say. Secondly, it has to say what it says in the least

possible number of words in order to keep your operating costs

within your budget. And thirdly, it has to produce the desired

results whether inquiries or sales.

Grabbing the reader's attention is your first objective. You must

assume the reader is "scanning" the page on which your ad appears

in the company of two or three hundred classified ads. Therefore,

there has to be something about your ad that causes him to stop

scanning and look at yours! So, the first two or three words of

your ad are the utmost importance and deserve your careful

consideration. Most surveys show that words or like this. MAKE

BIG MONEY! Easy & Simple. Guaranteed! Limited offer. Send $1.00

These are the ingredients of any good classified

ad---Attention--Interest--Desire--Action...Without these four

ingredients skillfully integrated into your ad, chances are your

ad will just "lie there" and not do anything but cost you money.

What we've just shown you is the basic classified ad. Although

such an ad could be placed in any leading publication and would

pull a good response, it's known as a "blind ad" and would pull

inquiries and responses from a whole spectrum of people reading

the publication in which it appeared. In other words, from as

many "time wasters" as from bona fide buyers.

So let's try to give you an example of the kind of classified ad

might want to use, say to sell a report such as this one...Using

all the rules of basic advertising copywriting, and saying

exactly what out product is, our ad reads:

MONEY-MAKER'S SECRETS! How to Write winning

classified ads. Simple & easy to learn-should

double or triple your responses. Rush $1 to

ABC Sales, 10 Main, Anytown, TX 75001.

The point we're making is 1) You've got to grab the reader's

attention...2) You've got to go "further stimulate" him with

something (catch-phrase) that makes him "desire" the product or

service...4) Demand that he act immediately...

There's no point in being tricky or clever. Just adhere to the

basics and your profits will increase accordingly. One of the

best ways of learning to write good classified ad is to study the

classifieds--try to figure out exactly what they're attempting to

sell--and then practice rewriting them according to the rules

we've just given you. Whenever you sit down to write a

classified, always write it all out--and then go back over it,

crossing out words, and refining your phraseology.

The final ingredient of your classified ad is of course, your

name & address to which the reader is to respond--where he's to

send his money or write for further information.

Generally speaking, readers respond more often to ads that

include a name than to those showing just initials or an the

number of words, or the amount of space your ad uses, the use of

some names in classified ads could become quite expensive. If we

were to ask our ad respondents to write to or send their money to

The Research Writers & Publishers Association, or our advertising

costs would be prohibitive. Thus we shorten our name Researchers

or Money-Makers. The point here is to think relative to the

placement costs of your ad, and to shorten excessively long

names.

The same holds true when listing your post office box number.

Shorten it to just plain Box 40, or in the case of a rural

delivery, shorten it to just RR1

The important thing is to know the rules of profitable classified

ad writing, and to follow them. Hold your costs in line.

Now you know the basics...the rest is up to you.